My First ARE
Well, what can I say ... probably not too much. Go to www.areforum.org for the goods.A former co-worker / former intern said that the best way to get those exams finished was to just get out that credit card and book 'em. I think he booked all of them at the same time - being a little more tentative, I'm booking them one at a time.
After booking "Materials and Methods" late December (my Christmas present to myself...), I quickly got into a habit of studying at the Main St. Bean on weekend mornings - and like a sprite got there by 9am 'cos otherwise there are no seats and tables left. So that's been working out. By the last week, it got into the evenings - go straight home, inhale leftovers, study at the Bean for 3 hours ... or the length of time it takes to go through 2 teas and 2 refills.
So last Saturday afternoon I made my way down to Metrotown, the uber-classy location of these exams. What better place to bone up on my materials and methods than by examining the glass elevator (hydraulic? electric? geared or gearless? how fast? what capacity?) that went down to the Canadian Idol competition.
Chaucey Group, I think, is essentially Thomsom Prometric for us; they are, as they claim, "The leading global provider of comprehensive testing and assessment services." They test who-knows-what for agencies from our very own NCARB to the American Association for Lab Animal Science to NAVY/WSESRB Weapons System Explosives Safety Review Board. Just scroll down and see! One learns so much in the process of becoming an architect.
The test centre is called "Cambridge College" -- no relation I believe to either the US or UK institution of the same name. The location is on all the Metrotown directory boards - it's about a 5 to 10 minute walk from the Skrytrain end of the mall. It's in a "professional" level a floor above all the hubbub.
It's a rather un-mally type of place - dark, dark blue everywhere, high-back chairs, all oozing a sort of plushiness of a mythical institution for higher learning. You give the picture ID they ask for. You sign in, and get a key to put your stuff in a locker. For "Materials and Methods", you get two pencils, scratch paper, and a simple calculator.
There's a testing room right behind the front desk, where there were about 10-ish carralls with computers in each. There's also a set of headphones, so you don't get distracted by all the clicking and typing around you. Very thoughtful. When the computer program starts, there's a set amount of time for learning how to navigate, and mark questions you might want to return to. At the end there's an option to return to all questions, or just the marked ones. There's a clock that displays how long you've got left.
So that's that! Easy as pie. It will now be just a matter of weeks, perhaps months who knows, before I know what my mark on this computerized, multiple-choice exam is. Pay and pray. I've just booked my next exam, "Construction Documents".
posted by Lisa @ 5:55 PM
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